[SOLVED] done with windows

[macstrange]

Well, windows 7 will no longer start. Heck, I can't even get into safe mode anymore. I've been wanting to switch to linux for some time now and i guess this is it. My question is, can I burn the dvd using my wifes' macbook without messing it up? Is there anything else I need to know? I've read most of the user guide, so I think I can install on my desktop without to much trouble. Just a matter of burning the dvd.
Thanks,
Shawn

[atreyu]

Well, windows 7 will no longer start. Heck, I can't even get into safe mode anymore. I've been wanting to switch to linux for some time now and i guess this is it. My question is, can I burn the dvd using my wifes' macbook without messing it up? Is there anything else I need to know? I've read most of the user guide, so I think I can install on my desktop without to much trouble. Just a matter of burning the dvd.
Thanks,
Shawn

Hello and welcome!

Yes, you can burn the ISO image you've downloaded (or will download) to DVD (or CD depending on the size) w/o harming your host OS.

What distro are you considering, out of curiosity? Be sure to check your hardware specs first, before diving in, too.

Edit: I assume you are going to try the Linux Mint distro!

[macstrange]

Mint seems to be the one.

[atreyu]

Mint seems to be the one.

What's that? The darling of Desktop Linux? Yes, you're quite right. Distrowatch's page hit ranking agrees.

[devils casper]

You can burn ISO image to USB drive also. Could you post your machine's specs here?

[macstrange]

its an asus essentio with pentium 5 equivalent. Just got done installing mint, restarted and now have "error: no such device, grub rescue>. What to do?

[atreyu]

its an asus essentio with pentium 5 equivalent. Just got done installing mint, restarted and now have "error: no such device, grub rescue>. What to do?

That is certainly *not* nice.

Hopefully a quick reinstall of the grub bootloader will get you back in order. Check the instructions here:

Reinstall grub2 from LiveCD - Linux Mint Community

If you are unsure, just boot up the Live DVD post back here with details about the disks in your system, as it stand. for starters:

sudo fdisk -l

[awesomepilot]

Please post the specs of you PC so we can see if its a hardware issue that would help a lot and welcome the Linux Forums and to the world of Linux

[macstrange]

This is what I got...

mint@mint ~ $ sudo fdisk -1
fdisk: invalid option -- '1'
Usage:
fdisk [options] <disk> change partition table
fdisk [options] -l <disk> list partition table(s)
fdisk -s <partition> give partition size(s) in blocks

Options:
-b <size> sector size (512, 1024, 2048 or 4096)
-c[=<mode>] compatible mode: 'dos' or 'nondos' (default)
-h print this help text
-u[=<unit>] display units: 'cylinders' or 'sectors' (default)
-v print program version
-C <number> specify the number of cylinders
-H <number> specify the number of heads
-S <number> specify the number of sectors per track

mint@mint ~ $

[macstrange]

I think I messed up the partition resisizing. May have to re-install. I'll post partition specs as soon as I can. Processor is pentium dual core e 5300 2.6 ghz